Is this laptop OK for recording?

On the surface it seems fine...there's very little info at that link tho. No specs on the HD, no specs on memory.

Almost any contemporary laptop will function just fine...it's when you get into hosting VST's that your CPU and RAM become especially critical.

And no, you would not want to plug directly into the laptop's sound card. Most sound cards contain cheap, crappy hardware. Find a decent USB interface (since that particular laptop doesn't appear to support Firewire. The interface will take the place of the soundcard and provide far superior performance.
 
BE aware that a lot of people using a Dell laptop and Firewire interfaces have had issues, prob because most FW interfaces don't like anything other than Texas Instruments firewire chip sets. PCMCIA slot FW adapter my fix this.
 
At some point you will need and external drive (FW800/400 or Esata 7200rpm) that will run fast enough to stream audio. When drives get to full performance is degraded. It is highly recommended to use External drives for writing audio so your internal drive can run the DAW software without trying to store audio at the same time.

You want these:
couple USB ports
Firewire or PCMCIA/Express slot adapter for FW
or Esata port not required but nice option for external drives
5400 or 7200 rpm HD (most laptops use 5400 rpm to reduce heat)
4 GB ram or better

Keep in mind that not all software programs are developed the same way to take advantage of Multi-core and hyper threading
If you have a Quad Core that is running software that can't see or use the extra cores, performance won't be a huge jump just cause you got the latest technology.
 
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I doubt you need 4G of RAM, but you should watch the OS. Most software was designed when XP ruled, and making some stuff work with Windows 7 can be no fun at all. And USB will work with just about any laptop. You don't need a super duper laptop to record, as long as it is just for recording.
 
Thanks everyone. What I'm going to do is a few sound tests - recording direct into the mic/line input, then the same piece into a USB interface. See which one comes out sounding best. The laptop, as you've suggested runs and records perfectly... it seems to be a great little until - so slick. Just need to get the best recorded sound possible so it'll come down to the soundcard Vs USB interface issue. Will post up results!

thanks for asdvice, though chaps - really useful - pulled the trigger on this the other day based on your helpful advice. One of the best, and cheapest, option for PC recording! Nice one.
 
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